Capella
by KarouYamisaki
Summary: "It had started with a cough, nothing life-threatening in comparison to the the dead people that wanted your flesh. Of course Carol being Carol had downplayed how severe the cough was until it was too late to treat with the minimal medicine that existed in the world since it's end." Part of the "Rose" Series


Carols death in my _**"Rose"**_ one-shot series. Before _Without_ and after _Raindrops_

A "cappela" is the ending of a song.

I use a quote from the Manga/Anime Fruits Basket here, bonus points if you can name the characters who I'm quoting and the book/episode in which this is used.

**Song:** The Wallflowers, One Headlight fits for obvious reasons *cough* motorcycle *cough* Songficy like Raindrops. I don't use the full song, just the relevant parts to the story other wise I tried to write in the other parts of the lyrics. Listen to the song on repeat when reading.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. No Beta.

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**Cappella**

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_So long ago, I don't remember when_

_That's when they say **I lost my only friend**_

_Well they said **she died **easy of a broken heart disease_

_As I listened through the cemetery trees_

It had started with a cough, nothing life-threatening in comparison to the the dead people that wanted your flesh. Of course Carol being Carol had downplayed how severe the cough was until it was too late to treat with the minimal medicine that existed in the world since it's end.

She hid it best from her daughter and Judith who spent her days following her around as she did her daily work of cooking, cleaning, and organizing as they waited for Daryl to return from hunting. When he was back he would let them watch as he took apart the fuzzy dead creatures that would become their meal for the night.

He noticed but didn't pursue the issue further when she brushed it off as a light winter cold. Trusting her.

Like_ hell _that _pneumonia_ was a light cold, but it was too late when she suffered from deeper harsher coughing that produced fevers as it sucked her life away.

_Now it always seemed such a waste_

_**She always had a pretty face**_

_So I wondered how she hung around this place_

She was laying on a pallet that they shared Rose curled in the quilts beside her., Daryl was sitting near-by cleaning his crossbow as he watched over them, today had left her too weak to be out of bed and he didn't want to leave her side. Neither did their daughter who would tell her mother stories of the other members of the group.

He smiled as they quietly talked, it was dark and Rose had been asking about how close spring was to arriving.

_"Do you know what happens when the snow melts?"_ she asked Rose

_"It turns into water." _Rose replied logically.

_"No silly it becomes spring."_ Carol pressed her nose which sent the little girl into giggles. He smirked his Carol though up the most deep ways to describe things simply that would boggle the more complex of minds. Rose continued to giggle as she drifted off to sleep next to her mother, both of his girls asleep as he watched over them.

_And I seen the** sun **up ahead_

_At the county line bridge_

_**Sayin' all there's good **and nothingness is dead_

It was a good day in early spring, and the little family was spending the day outside. Daryl was carrying her around for she was still to weak to walk to the the garden where Rose liked to play every single day she could. Carol had a shawl wrapped 'round her painfully thin shoulders to keep her warm along with his trusty poncho just in case. Her arms were wrapped around his neck as she had done years earlier when he carried her away from that cell in solitary.

Their daughter bobbed alongside them, humming one of the songs that Beth had been teaching her in the afternoons as the young woman took over Carols position as the caretaker for the group.

"_Hold you horses little Rose-Bud." _He called out, catching the four-year olds fleeting attention on such a bright sunny day as she ran ahead of them. Both parents making sure their little girl stayed within sight. Old scars burning hard on their souls the last time a little girl disappeared from their sights.

They where out by the overgrown garden the woman of the house had once had kept perfectly in boxes, with footpaths and a pond that at one time held Koi fish.

Now nature had taken over the nurture and wild plants had taken over. Wild flowers grew in place of finely kept lily's and tulips.

Daryl found an old bench next to a bush of Cherokee Roses, bundling her up in the poncho and her shawl even more to keep her warm along with the quilt he had managed to drag out earlier when she requested to spend the day outside.

He adjusted the strap of his crossbow, not totally trusting the peaceful air that seemed to settle around them that day. Sitting himself on the benches arm so he could still be close to Carol while watching over the area, and for Rose who was toddling about the patio space that was surrounded by landscaping boxes that held now wildflowers.

Rose found a blue feather in an old blue-jays nest and promptly had to show her parents her amazing find.

"_Look at what I found mama!"_

"_You know what, I think I have a place to keep that pretty feather safe."_

"_Really?"_

"_Come here, let me show you."_

Carol smiled as she weaved the blue feather into her daughters hair so it stuck out just a little bit while blending in nicely into her hair.

"_There, now you look like my little Indian."_

Rose smiled back in delight _"I love it mama, it's so pretty, I want to always wear a feather in my hair"_

Carol chuckled "_Daddy can bring you back any feather you wish when he goes out hunting."_

"_Really Daddy?" _Rose turned her watery blue eyes onto him, he could pretend all he wanted to that those pleading eyes did nothing to him but then he would be _lying._

He shrugged _" 'course I can."_

"_Thank you Daddy!" _She suddenly bolted from her mothers side to wrap her tiny self around his legs.

He patted her on the head and gave her his best smile, which she accepted knowing that was the best she could get out of her father for now.

"_Tell me again about the cher-o-kee roses and sister 'phia mama." _Rose demanded as she threw herself down next to her mother on the bench.

"_Well there's a story that your daddy told me that says during the..." _and so Carol told the story again of the Cherokee Rose, how her father had searched bravely for her sister and how the flower symbolized that Sophia would watch over them always.

The Dixon family had then spent the rest of the day outside, sharing stories, smiling, and enjoying the life they had with each other as it seemed that the matriarchs sickness had faded into unpleasant memory.

_We'll run until she's out of breath_

_**She ran until there's nothin' left**_

_She hit the end-it's just her window ledge_

She didn't wake up the next day, she was breathing slowly and her skin had grown pale. Apparently that last day was not the sign of a new beginning, it was the end. He let the group say their goodbyes to her the day after that knowing deep down that she was never going to open her eyes ever again.

Daryl had sent little Rose out of the room earlier with Maggie and Glenn, Rick had begun to offer to do the deed and the redneck nearly tore his head off when he had tried to ask.

He took a gun and did it himself, shooting her behind the temple with little reaction to the red staining of the pillow her head had been perched on.

He felt empty.

He never cried, he wanted to, to break down like Rick had when Lori had died. He wanted to go out into the woods and just _kill_ something whether that be a furry creature or a Walker it didn't matter as long as it could take his rage. He pulled the sheet over her pale face, obscuring it so he didn't have to see the damage he had to do to keep her undead corpse from rising and taking a bite out of him, his daughter, or the rest of the group.

Outside this old house was to be the site of his Carols final resting place, Maggie and Andrea managed to clean her up before wrapping her in a clean sheet like they had before for their fallen comrades.

Glenn was nice enough to dig her a proper grave, the second and final one that he had ever dug for the groups mother-figure. With her death the original members of th Atlanta group had gone down to four; being Rick, Glenn, Carl, and Daryl.

Eventually they would leave her grave behind, like they had done with the others. If it was the old world they could have gotten a headstone for each of them, for her, with some sappy message craved in the stone with her full name, birth, and death dates._ What the hell was the date anyway? How cruel for it to be that Dale Horvath was right all those years ago about keeping the time._ But that world was gone and the only thing the future people of the earth would think was that some unlucky soul had been buried there underneath a wooden cross that said nothing about the person it was marking.

Most likely he would never be laid to rest beside her, the group would dig a hole for him with a cross and move on to greener pastures. Maybe Rose would remember this place and return with his sorry remains.

_I'm so **alone**, and I feel just like somebody else_

_**Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same**_

_But somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams_

I think **her** **death** it must be **killin' me**

Daryl in the meantime was beating on the old truck that he had picked up soon after Rose's conception, since then it was always Carol's to drive with Rose the times he took point with his old triumph. Carol had never been able to get the smell of cigarettes out of the cloth upholstery, which made her angrier then hell some days early on in her pregnancy.

Right now it could burn in hell for all he cared, it held fond memories of them together, eager for the new life that would become their...his daughter Rose. The same Rose who had followed him outside for comfort as he raged against the truck with his fists.

"_Daddy?"_ Came a timid voice from behind him and he turned around with a growl.

_Those eyes_ were wide and fearful and coming from his young daughter. She cowered away from his presence, afraid to be near him.

Instantly he regretted his actions, this was not the way adults handled their grief.

"_I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Rose I didn' mean to scare yah." _he dropped to his knees hoping that his daughter wouldn't run away from him. She stared at him warily, like he might change in an instant and start hitting her like he was the truck.

That would never happen, _**ever**_.

"_I want Mommy back." _she replied tearfully.

"_I want her back too 'bud."_

she sniffled

"_Come here kid." _he said as he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her tiny frame, holding her to his chest where she could hear his broken heart beating.

"_Daddy?"_she murmured.

"_Hm?"_

"_Do you know what happens when the snow melts?"_

"_It gets friggn' muddy." _Daryl grumbled, loosening his grip on her.

She rolled her mothers blue eyes_"No, it turns to spring."_

He smirked, her way of comfort was to remind him of what he had lost, and what he still had with his daughter. A little piece of Carol he could keep alive in this ever dark and dangerous world.

"_Mama said that the cher-o-kee roses grew cause sister 'phia was watchin' over us." _

He nodded "_Um-hm"_

"_So mama and 'phia are watchin' over us now." _Rose was giving him that strange innocent look children have when they say something so profound and not know it.

"_Of course they are 'bud, they'll always be watchin' _

"_I love you Daddy."_she whispered as she buried herself back into his arms.

"_Love ya' too 'bud."_

_Hey, come on try a little_

_**Nothing is forever**_

_There's got to be something better than _

_**In the middle**_

_But me & Cinderella_

_We put it all together_

_We can drive it home_

_With **one headlight**_

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**End.**

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**Read. Review. Suggest. Prompt. Etc.**


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